Welcome to MoPub! Use this page to navigate through our onboarding process. Here we give you the resources to learn about monetization, choose between basic options and advanced ones, and have you monetizing by the time you’re done.

New to Monetizing?

If you’re new to monetizing, read our all about it on our website’s Education Center, where we explain the concepts and options behind showing ads in your app. Here are a few places to start:

MoPub Glossary can be helpful if you come across an unfamiliar term or report metric.

Monetizing with MoPub: The Process

MoPub makes onboarding easy. You can follow our basic steps to start monetizing in a snap. Think of this as the “express lane,” our fast track to monetizing.

What if, instead of our streamlined, fast-track integration, you want to take full advantage of the MoPub platform’s rich features? No problem: we also offer advanced settings you can calibrate to maximize revenues. Think of these as optional “scenic detours” you can take–either now as you onboard; or later, when you have time–to make the most of your MoPub partnership.

Step 1. Create a MoPub Account

Step 2. Create your MoPub App and Ad Unit

An ad unit is also known as a placement; this is the place and time in your app that the ad displays. Every app must have at least one ad unit. However, the more ad units you create, the more varied will be your users’ ad experience, and the better chances you have of higher fill.

Optional: Create Multiple Ad Units

We recommend creating multiple ad units to promote ad diversity. Using different ad formats means you can show different creatives; for example, banner ad units only accept banner ad creatives, whereas interstitial ad units display video creatives (which tend to result in higher CPMs), and native ads provide a more seamless app experience. Check the best practices links in Step 2 to decide which format works best and where.

Step 3. Apply for Marketplace Approval

Marketplace approval takes 7-10 business days, so please bear with us. To avoid unnecessary delays, ensure that all your information is accurate, including whether your app has a valid app store URL in the app settings and complies with our supply-side policies.

One part of the approval process is a review of your privacy policy. All publisher partners using MoPub services must prominently display and comply with a legally sufficient privacy policy.

Your app must be published in the Google Play, iTunes, or Kindle store to be approved.

We recommend that you display your privacy policy in the app store. An alternative is emailing MoPub a link or PDF to your privacy policy. If your company website is easily accessible from the app store, and your privacy policy is easily accessible from your website, this is also an acceptable alternative.

If you have any questions, contact policy@mopub.com, referencing your MoPub account email address.

If there are any problems with your privacy policy, the MoPub policy team will contact you using the email address you provided in your MoPub account settings, so keep an eye on that inbox.

Nice work: you’ve completed Step 3 of 7.

Step 4. Integrate the MoPub SDK Into Your Code

You performed Steps 1-3 in the MoPub UI. For this step, you leave our UI and go to your code, where you integrate our MoPub SDKs into your app. Refer to these integration materials for the following SDKs:

Step 5. Set Up MoPub Marketplace

Use the MoPub Marketplace, MoPub’s real-time bidding exchange, to maximize your mobile revenue. It brings together all of your demand sources — Direct Serve, ad networks, and demand-side platforms (DSPs) — under a single unified auction, in which each ad impression is sold to the highest bidder.

Remember applying for Marketplace approval in Step 3? You need that approval for this step. If you have been approved, MoPub does not notify you by email. Check your status either in the Marketplace tab of the MoPub UI, or by emailing policy@mopub.com.

Marketplace is automatically turned on for all ad units. Go to the Marketplace tab of the MoPub UI and set up price floors. For the best performance, we recommend keeping your price floors as low as possible, especially in your first few weeks, as the exchange acclimates to your new inventory.

You are welcome to mediate unsupported networks, but you must work with them directly to develop adapters using these instructions. MoPub does not provide technical support for network JavaScript tags. Use them sparingly and with caution; follow these best practices.

When choosing a custom SDK network, enter the adapter name in the Custom Event Class section. The custom event class data section is reserved for additional network information, such as network ID, and requires only JSON format. Click Save.

If you are working with a custom JavaScript network, paste in the HTML tag. Click Save. Refer here for best practices.

Integrate the selected ad networks’ SDKs into your SDK. Without this step, only MoPub Marketplace ads will show, but the ad networks you added to your waterfall in the MoPub Marketplace Platform will be ignored.

Back in the UI, target each network to the ad unit you want the network to serve on. In the Networks tab, select the network, and follow the prompts to set up reporting and enable Auto CPM. Enter the Network ID provided by network and click Save.

Auto CPM automates the task of updating network CPMs in the waterfall. Enabling it helps you maximize revenue while optimizing workflow. It is the quicker way to get started. Read about it here.

In the Segments tab, use the Global segment to target your network to desired ad units. You can create additional country segments by clicking Create Segment.

Test your ad integration to ensure ads are showing and that MoPub and network impressions or click trackers are firing correctly.

In the New Creative page, follow these instructions to select the desired Format and complete the remaining fields.

Home stretch: you’ve completed Step 5 of 7 and are ready to test.

Step 6. Test Your Integration

This step is very important for successful onboarding. Here you test your ad integration to ensure that ads are displaying, and that impression or click trackers are firing correctly. We make testing easy by setting you up with sample apps and ad units.

MoPub provides test ad unit IDs you can use for testing that are guaranteed to fill. You can also test by creating a backfill campaign to use for your production IDs. Finally, MoPub provides sample apps that you can reference for examples of a simple integration when you test your code. You can then troubleshoot any problems by using the device logs. Going through the device logs as you test also presents a great opportunity to become familiar with the kinds of responses you will receive from MoPub and ad networks in cases when there is no ad to show.

Step 7. You’re Monetizing! Now, Get Reports.

Congratulations; you’re monetizing. You can kick back now, but of course you want to see how you’re doing, so let’s set you up with reporting.

We offer three different ways to track your monetization; read about all of them here.

Or check it out right now by running a custom report in the Reports tab.

For more detailed information, read through the documentation on this site, or reach out to support@mopub.com or to your account team. Finally, make sure you’re following best practices by checking here.

You’ve completed all the integration steps. Welcome to the MoPub family!

FAQ

Check your ad unit waterfall (or setup) in the UI to ensure you have at least one ad source targeted and running. If you do, review your device logs to further troubleshoot. Use our device log documentation for IOS and Android for guidance on how to set this up and for solutions to common log messages.

To receive Marketplace ads, you must apply for approval first. Learn more here.
You can also create test ads following these instructions for Android and iOS.

Segments are an optional feature. Segments are slices of your network inventory (specific apps or ad units) that you can target to specific countries and networks. In the Segments tab, you can create different segments based on geos. You can also update your network eCPMs and set up frequency caps. Note that these setups will only impact the Priority 12 network lines in your waterfall. Read more about segments here.

If your ad requests are many but your impressions are zero, check the following:

Make sure your account is approved for Marketplace. Kick off the process by adding your payment information in the Marketplace tab.

Make sure you have added networks in your Networks tab, and have properly integrated the network SDKs and latest certified adapters in your app.

Test your integration by creating a Guaranteed line item through the Orders tab, making sure to add a creative that matches the ad unit size for the Guaranteed line item to serve. If your Guaranteed line item still does not serve, compare your code to the code in our Sample Apps to make sure your integration is correct.

Marketplace payments are Net 60. Note that MoPub pays on Marketplace earnings only. For more information, please visit our Getting Paid help article.
If you have any specific questions around payments, you can reach out to mopubpaymentsupport@twitter.com.

To receive MoPub Marketplace ads, you must be approved for Marketplace. Begin by adding your payment information in the Marketplace tab. Our Policy team will review your account and only if you are compliant with our Supply Partner Policies will it be approved.

Follow this basic checklist to gain Marketplace approval:

Valid Android package name or iTunes App Store URL linked to your MoPub app in the MoPub UI. Set it up in the Apps tab.

Policy may require you to provide screenshots of the app in your store’s Admin page to prove that you are the owner of the account.

Be sure to check the inbox of the email address you provided to us in the MoPub UI so you don’t miss any Policy inquiries.

Note that only accounts with published apps are eligible for Marketplace approval. Because approval is granted at account level, your approval request will be denied if your account has any unpublished apps in it.

MoPub Marketplace is our real-time bidding exchange, providing you with an additional revenue source through competitive auctions, with complete transparency and control. Marketplace only wins when it can beat the highest performing ad network that has an available ad. Marketplace increases the quantity of potential bidders for your impressions, without your having to integrate additional SDKs.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when optimizing Marketplace:

Keep your price floors low because setting it too high discourages our demand-side partners from bidding on your inventory and can result in lost revenue for you. Our Marketplace partners compete against each other and drive the CPM up on their own.

Don’t set your price floor above your network CPMs because doing so may result in a lower-performing ad network winning an impression when the Marketplace may have been willing to pay more.

Set your network CPMs correctly when turning on the Marketplace. This is critical because these are the CPMs the Marketplace needs to beat. Good news: Auto CPM handles this on your behalf if you enable it.

Add networks to your waterfall. Marketplace is engineered to maximize your CPMs through competition. However, keep in mind that Marketplace is not a 100% fill partner. To increase fill, we suggest adding networks to your waterfall through the Networks tab.

Select SDK Network implementation type when setting up your networks. Learn more here about which networks are our supported partners and offer this type of implementation.

Keeping your Marketplace floors as low as your lowest-paying network is an important best practice. It guarantees that Marketplace competes with all your networks. And that guarantees that the demand source winning the impression is the highest-paying ad source. Marketplace only wins the impression if it can beat your highest network eCPM.
Learn more here.

Auto CPM is a feature that keeps your networks’ eCPMs updated to your actual values, so you don’t have to worry about updating them manually in the MoPub UI. With Auto CPM, eCPMs are updated every day at 7:00 pm UTC based on average eCPMs for the last seven rolling days.

With Auto CPM, your waterfall is always optimized because your highest-paying network receives the first call, and your other networks receive calls ranked by their real eCPM. Learn more here.

As a full-stack monetization platform, MoPub enables you to monetize your inventory through the MoPub Marketplace (real-time bidding exchange, managed in the Marketplace tab), through Network mediation (managed in the Networks tab), and through direct deals (managed in the Orders tab).

The Marketplace tab corresponds to the MoPub RTB exchange. Through MoPub Marketplace, 180 DSPs have access to bid on your ad units, significantly increasing the demand on your inventory.

The Networks tab covers only your network demand. Read more about the Networks tab here.

The Orders tab is where you create line items not only for networks, but also for Marketplace and for direct deals. The main difference is that line items enable you to work with any type of ad source and you can place this ad source in any priority you choose. Read more about the Orders tab here and about setting line item budgets here.

Settings on the Marketplace and Networks tabs will only affect Priority 12 in your waterfall. However, when setting up new networks, even if you want to set them in a priority other than Priority 12, you must add them in the Networks tab first. If you create a Marketplace Line Item through the Orders tab, your Marketplace tab settings will not override the line item settings.

Network eCPMs and Marketplace eCPMs in the MoPub UI have different functions:

Network eCPMs in the MoPub UI serve two functions: First, they prioritize networks within a priority with multiple demand partners. Second, they inform Marketplace Exchange of the average network eCPM. (This is the eCPM that the exchange must beat to serve an ad; the eCPM is not a price floor.) Therefore, if your eCPM for a given network has been around $0.15 for the last 7 days, this is the eCPM that should be reflected in the UI so that the waterfall can prioritize other higher buyers. Leveraging our Auto CPM feature ensures that your waterfall is optimized toward your highest-paying source.

Marketplace eCPMs serve one function: They inform the bidders the minimum eCPM for a given ad unit. Note that Marketplace only wins the impression when it beats your highest network eCPM; therefore, setting low price floors does not mean you are going to have low CPMs.

Any important communications about your account, such as optimizations or policy notifications, are sent to the emails you have listed in the account. Some of these communications require you to take actions to ensure that your monetization activity is compliant with our Terms of Service and Supply Partners Policies. For these reasons, make sure the emails listed under your MoPub account are valid and monitor the inbox regularly.